Durkin: County Deer Advisory Councils don't have tools to control deer herds

Citizens serving on County Deer Advisory Councils are struggling to control whitetail herds with the limited options provided by lawmakers and the Natural Resources Board.(Photo: Patrick Durkin/For USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin)Buy Photo

Citizens tasked with managing their county’s deer herds the past three years have learned that population goals are much like weight goals: It’s far easier to add pounds than shed them.

But unlike weight loss, no one’s peddling or promising easy or effective programs to reduce deer numbers. In fact, legislators and political appointees running the Department of Natural Resources have done little to help the state’s County Deer Advisory Councils control the herds, most notably those in farm country.

This is the fourth year that these nine- to 10-citizen CDACs have set antlerless deer quotas under a system created by Gov. Scott Walker’s 2012-13 “Deer Trustee Review.” That process basically stripped DNR biologists of their public-trust responsibilities for managing Wisconsin’s whitetails, and shifted those duties to the 72 CDACs to ensure “citizens have a say” in deer management.

But now that deer herds have rebounded across much of Wisconsin, and Deer-Trustee-certified “metrics” confirmed the increases, many CDACs are realizing they’re nearly powerless to stop the herd’s growth, let alone reverse it. Those irksome realities spawned frustration the past week as CDACs decided how many does and fawns should be shot during this fall’s deer seasons.

Their one potent option is antlerless-only hunting seasons September through January, but none were so foolhardy to press that button. When Waupaca County’s CDAC pressed it in 2016 and Door County’s CDAC pushed it in 2017, hunters revolted. Both CDACs quickly caved.

And who can blame them? Few citizens seek service on a CDAC, and none get paid, so who would subject themselves and their families to profane calls, dirty looks and e-beatings over a doe quota?

“The antlerless-only option is more toxic than earn-a-buck, so it’s not really an option at all,” said Mike Amman, a county forester who serves on Bayfield County’s CDAC, the only such council in the Northern forest region whose 2018-2020 goal is to reduce deer numbers. The Legislature in 2011 killed the previous earn-a-buck law, which required hunters to shoot a doe or fawn to earn a buck tag.

Amman said he has discussed restoring earn-a-buck regulations with area Democratic legislators, but they told him their efforts are futile unless Republicans write the legislation and push it. “I don’t think earn-a-buck is a silver bullet, especially without requiring in-person registration, but we need it back on the table,” Amman said.

Most of the 19 counties trying to reduce deer herds the next three years are in Wisconsin’s southern or central farm country. In contrast, all or part of 15 counties are still trying to increase their herds, including Douglas, Ashland, Iron, Taylor, Forest and northern sections of Oconto and Marinette counties. Most counties hope to maintain deer at current levels.

But given the weakness of current deer-management options, Amman and others think few counties can reduce their herds or contain their growth. “To effectively harvest antlerless deer, we really don’t have any tools except ‘hope for the best,’” Amman said.

The one so-called tool added this year gives CDACs the option to extend the archery/crossbow seasons to Jan. 31, 2019, but only for antlerless deer, and only in counties holding nine-day antlerless seasons Dec. 24 through Jan. 1.

Cold weather hunts provide more recreation than herd control, however, even with firearms. Of the 157,486 antlerless deer registered during 2017-18 deer seasons, only 11,424 (7.25 percent) fell during the two December firearms hunts. That low number partly resulted from brutal weather during the four-day antlerless season, which had 8,590 kills, or 5.5 percent of the total antlerless harvest; and again during the holiday hunt, which generated 2,834 kills, or 1.8 percent of total antlerless harvest.

Some CDAC members think December hunts would draw more interest if hunters could also shoot bucks, but DNR Board member Greg Kazmierski persuaded his fellow Board members to remove that choice during Deer Trustee revisions.

Therefore, CDACs can only hope to increase antlerless kills by cranking out more antlerless-only permits, even though nearly 30 years of similar efforts show dismal to disappointing results. In general, the higher the antlerless quota and the more permits generated, the lower the success rates.

In 2017, for example, five farmland CDACs set 5-digit antlerless quotas ranging from 10,000 to 16,000 deer; and issued a minimum 31,105 antlerless-only tags in hopes of reaching the quota. None came close:

Of those counties, Grant hopes to maintain its current deer numbers, and the other four hope to reduce them.

It’s likely not coincidence that Waupaca County’s hunters outperformed the other four. Despite shooting nearly half of its prescribed 12,000 antlerless quota in 2015, the Waupaca CDAC tried imposing antlerless-only restrictions for 2016. After hundreds of angry hunters shot down the plan at a mid-April meeting two years ago, the CDAC relented. Hunters responded by registering nearly 7,900 antlerless deer that fall, or 56 percent of the quota.

Likewise, Door County hunters apparently responded to a threatened antlerless-only season in 2017. The CDAC backed down under pressure, and instead issued 46,257 permits for its 6,500 antlerless quota. Hunters last fall shot 3,200 antlerless deer, or nearly half of the quota, which was also nearly 800 more than in 2016 and 1,200 more than in 2015.

“It’s a tough, tough deal to bring the herd down to where it should be,” he said. “The Legislature stuck their nose into this and screwed it up to where we don’t have many options. Hunters asked us to give them a chance last fall, and our antlerless harvest was higher than it’s been since the earn-a-buck days. So, our council is taking a wait-and-see attitude. We’re hoping they do even better this fall.”

But Baudhuin isn’t making predictions. After all, his 41 years in the Wisconsin Conservation Congress remind him that mere hope is no policy.

Patrick Durkin is a freelance writer who covers outdoors for USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin. Email him at patrickdurkin56@gmail.com.